A maths teacher has been banned from the classroom for at least three years for inappropriately hugging and kissing pupils.
Inderjit Singh, who taught at the Grange Technology College in Bradford, was found guilty of professional misconduct over his contact with three schoolgirls.
A report from the Teaching Regulation Agency says that one student, dubbed Pupil A, told the panel how the 43-year-old had asked her and a friend to visit him before class, when “he started hugging me more and kissing me on my cheeks”.
Pupil B described another occasion where she stayed back alone with the maths teacher.
“He was really stressed out… so he told me to go to that corner and hugged me again and did this a few times. Then he kissed me on my cheeks then grabbed my face and kissed my lips,” she said.
Mr Singh did not appear before the tribunal but said in a statement he “adamantly” rejected the accusations, from 2016 and 2017, that he hugged and kissed pupils A and B, and denied squeezing Pupil C’s hand.
But he admitted hugging Pupil C when she asked if he was alright after he took time off school, saying he had sought to thank her as “a Sikh father would bless their daughter”.
“I accept that my conduct in relation to this incident was inappropriate, however in mitigation I had numerous personal issues to content (sic) with,” he said.
The panel ruled that Mr Singh had kissed and hugged Pupil A and Pupil B, and hugged Pupil C, and that “sexual motivation was more likely than not to have been Mr Singh’s motivation” for these actions.
It also found that the teacher had squeezed Pupil C’s hand, but it “did not consider that sexual motivation was proven”.
The panel judged Mr Singh had shown “unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute”.
It acknowledged that Mr Singh was going through some difficulties in his personal life at the time of the allegations, and had evidence from two of the pupils “to suggest that Mr Singh may not have understood the effects of his actions on them”.
Despite testimony from other teachers who described him as a professional and supportive colleague, the panel found it was in the public interest to ban him.
“Mr Singh had demonstrated no insight into the effect of his actions on the three pupils,” it said.
Decision maker Alan Meyrick agreed with the panel’s recommendation that Mr Singh be barred from teaching for at least three years.
“I consider, therefore, that a three year review period is required to satisfy the maintenance of public confidence in the profession,” he said.
